Grandpa
by JalendaviLady
Summary: A 3-part series of vignettes about Ben Skywalker set in a universe where Anakin survived Return of the Jedi. Part of the Signs of Life Universe. Now complete.
1. Part 1

Grandpa

By JalendaviLady

Part 1

----

Disclaimer: I don't own _Star Wars_. I mean no harm or profit in my random and not-so-random fanfic experiments and adventures.

----

Ben sat in his family's apartment on Coruscant, watching the holonews. His parents were off doing something 'official', as were his uncle and aunt, and the little 10-year-old was stuck at home with Grandpa.  
  
Being baby-sat by Grandpa used to be fun. The Jedi Elder knew the exact kind of story Ben liked and had gathered them from the ends of the galaxy before he'd stopped traveling so much. Just about the only tales he'd ever wanted to hear from Grandpa that he hadn't been told involved Grandma. Grandpa'd gotten a strange look on his face, and Ben had never asked again. He'd never turned down a challenge on flying sims, although he always bemoaned their inferiority to 'adult sims'. Ben hadn't been able to wait until he was old enough to challenge Grandpa on the adult sims. Now, Grandpa was tired all the time. Ben couldn't understand why  
  
The newsreporters started talking about some treaty that was being signed. Ben knew his parents dabbled in politics occasionally and that Grandpa had been involved with the start of the treaty, but his jaw dropped when they switched to a view of the Senate chamber and his father walked up to the podium. _Grandpa'll__ wanna see this!_ Ben raced down the hall toward Grandpa's room.  
  
"Grandpa!" Ben skidded to a halt just outside the door.  
  
Grandpa's gray hair was barely visible above the sheets on the bed, the white stripe running in it distinct next to dark sheets as Ben wandered into the room. "Grandpa?"  
  
He came closer, shaking the old man's shoulders. Ben wouldn't have normally dared wake him, mostly because of the high respect he had for Grandpa, but he thought that he'd want to know what was going on.  
  
"Hruh... Ben." Grandpa graced him with a weak smile. "What is it?"  
  
"The treaty's about to be signed. I thought..." He saw the slightly annoyed look in Grandpa's eyes and glanced down at his feet. "I thought you'd wanna know."  
  
"Ben, I'm not angry at you." Grandpa rested a hand on Ben's shoulder. "I'm just tired. They'll be showing the signing in replays for weeks."  
  
"But I thought you were involved..."  
  
"I was. I was younger then, Ben. If I could be there now I would. I would love to be there right now. But the Maker does not always let us do what we wish, nor does he mold all outcomes to what we would wish them to be. If you remember nothing else I ever tell you, Ben, remember that."  
  
Ben nodded. "I'll come back at dinnertime. Love you, Grandpa." He kissed the Elder's forehead and rushed towards the door.  
  
"I love you, Ben."  
  
...  
  
Ben whimpered in his sleep where he'd fallen asleep on the couch.  
  
_Emptiness. Something wrong with the world._  
  
Heavy footsteps jerked him awake as his parents, aunt, and uncle raced into the apartment and down the hall.  
  
Something was wrong... Ben's family discouraged Force-communication when walking and talking could serve the same purpose, but something was wrong.  
  
Grandpa?  
  
No response.  
  
GRANDPA?!  
  
A moment later, his father screamed in a voice Ben had never heard before and hoped to never hear again, "FATHER!!!!!"


	2. Part 2

Grandpa

By JalendaviLady

Part 2

----

Disclaimer: I don't own _Star Wars_. I mean no harm or profit in my random and not-so-random fanfic experiments and adventures.

----

Part 2  
  
Ben stood before his family, his Master, and the Jedi Elders, answering their questions. It was the last stage of the testing that would confirm his rank as a fully trained Force-user under the Jedi and make him recognized around the galaxy as such under the treaty signed 10 years earlier.  
  
"Jedi, Your training is... complete," his Master intoned, smiling at the momentary uneasiness of her now-former apprentice's family. Nervous laughter filled the room.  
  
Master Kalani had been one of Grandpa's first apprentices and Ben often thought his sense of humor had rubbed off on her more than anyone in the wider world could ever guess.  
  
_I wish Grandpa was here._  
  
"Your training done, the world is open to you. You are adult, capable of judging the world for yourself. What will you do, now that you have been prepared to enter the galaxy as an informed adult sentient being?"  
  
"A treaty was signed between the Force-strong peoples, the New Republic, and the Empire years ago. We are all now one, balancing each other with our differences. I choose to wander. There are beings all over the galaxy who even under the treaty will never meet someone from another group, but maybe I can raise the number who meet someone who has been among another group. Master Kalani taught me the languages and general cultures of the formerly hidden Force-strong peoples. Basic is the language of most of the rest of the galaxy and I have learned the basics of many of the remaining cultures as a child in a diplomatic family. I can find my way. Even if I settle down later, I want to see the galaxy."  
  
Kalani put her hands on his shoulders. "Then go with my blessings, Ben."  
  
His father and mother held him close, younger siblings clinging to his legs. His father pressed something into his hand, and surprised blue eyes met firm ones. "When you were barely walking and you and your grandfather started playing with flying sims... he told me that he wanted you to have his ship when you became a full Jedi, whether or not he was around to give it to you. That is the master key to the _Lady's Wings_. May she keep you safe as she did your grandfather, grandmother, the hundreds of Jedi she snuck off Coruscant, and all others who have ever flown in her, my son."  
  
Ben glanced at his mother. "And you, Mother?"  
  
Her green eyes flashed under a sea of red-gold hair. "You think I would replace the training weapons with which I taught you with the true things in public? Your enemies might be able to learn the extent of your defenses. I trained you better than that, and so did Kalani!"   
  
He smiled at her. "Just checking..."  
  
"Ben!!!"  
  
...  
  
Days later, Ben lifted off from the spaceport where Grandpa's ship had last been landed over a decade before, when the Elder had stopped flying. "Where should we go first?" he called over his shoulder to R2. "Those of the sky, or those of the ground? Or should we go to Corellia... I think I'm already over the drinking age there..."  
  
His question was answered by a long electronic shriek.  
  
"Ok, ok, no cruising the galaxy for bars. But I have heard Treasure Ship Row is impressive..."


	3. Part 3

Grandpa

By JalendaviLady

Part 3

----

Disclaimer: I don't own _Star Wars_. I mean no harm or profit in my random and not-so-random fanfic experiments and adventures.

----

It was strange to be returning to Coruscant.  
  
Sure, he'd run into his family more than once in his travels. Sure, with all the places he'd been it ought to be just another planet, New Republic type, Force-use majority Jedi.  
  
But that didn't take into account the cargo he was carrying.  
  
"Ben, are you sure we're allowed to jump out of hyperspace this close?"  
  
"Jump in, drop out, Marnila. And yes, I'm sure."  
  
R2 whistled something and Ben turned on the comm.  
  
"Coruscant Space Authority to _Lady's Wings_. The usual berth is open."  
  
"I hear you, Coruscant. Thanks." He flicked the audio transmitter off.  
  
"They know you that well?"  
  
"And they know this ship this well." _Didn't I tell her I was a Skywalker... uh oh. Common last name everywhere but in the New Republic, Empire, and Jedi. Ok, how do I deal with this before Mom and Dad find out I've brought a girl of marriageable age onplanet?_  
  
He almost panicked, trying to think of a way to tell her.  
  
_That's it._ "Mind if we go someplace before you meet my family?"  
  
She looked at him, light green eyes wide with puzzlement. "I don't know why not..."  
  
...  
  
An hour later, they were alone. Ben had told R2 to go home and let his family know he was onplanet and nothing more.  
  
It was a quiet, private garden, nestled in the Manarai mountain range. Ben knew Marnila would recognize the overall style of the place; the concept of small memorial gardens for remembering the honored dead had come from her people, after all, particularly the bit about changing the design and contents to reflect the one being remembered.  
  
Marnila picked up on the clues in the design, sure enough. "This... This is the garden for a turnback, isn't it?"  
  
Ben nodded, waiting for the outburst that would surely leave him alone again.  
  
"Ben... whose garden is this?"  
  
"My grandfather's private one."  
  
"But who could rank two... You are of that branch of Skywalkers?" Panic and fear were in her eyes.  
  
He nodded. "I thought you already knew." _Any moment now, she'll tell me she doesn't want to be married to the grandson of a Sith Lord._  
  
"But... my family is a minor branch of the lowest of tribes! We have no authority among the people and our honor carries little weight!"  
  
_Well, this certainly isn't what I was expecting..._ "I don't care, and neither will my family. My aunt married a smuggler and my father married a former assassin. Grandpa gave his blessings to both."  
  
"Ben, just give me a few minutes alone to think."  
  
"Whatever you need, Marnila." He bowed his head respectfully and moved deeper into the garden.  
  
...  
  
Ben heard familiar footsteps coming near, along with a Force-presence he knew very well. "Uh, hi, Dad."  
  
"Ben." He was suddenly enveloped in a warm hug. "They told me you were onplanet. I was just coming to do some weeding..."  
  
_...which means it's that time of year again. Dad only weeds when he really misses Grandpa._ "I needed to come here before I went home."  
  
"I understand."  
  
_You don't know the half of it._  
  
...  
  
Marnila walked slowly, poking her head around every corner as she thought.  
  
_They will say I aimed my sights too high, that I am an uppity woman who thinks honor can be married rather than earned. The gossip mongers will twitter my name in the deep tunnels and I shall be infamous in the bars of Calica Fair._ She knew well enough what happened to those who stepped too far beyond their rank.  
  
_But isn't the Rajan kin to them? Wouldn't the leader of my people stand up for the fiancé of his blood-relative? His wife was of family honor only a bit higher than mine, wasn't she?_  
  
_But what if Rajan Kennet does not help?_  
  
_Ben's worth the risk._  
  
Something caught her eye in a flowerbed. _They would cultivate THAT in a memory garden?_  
  
...  
  
A quarter timepart later, father and son were weeding and talking about all the places Ben had been and all the family events that had occurred since Ben had made contact.  
  
"Anna's going to be given full Jedi rank in another season."  
  
"And that'll be the last of us out of the apartment."  
  
"Unless you move back in."  
  
"Maybe."  
  
Light footsteps nearby. "Did he who is remembered here choose the flowers?"  
  
Luke responded, "He who is remembered chose the flowers and the trees to remind others of what he wished to tell those he left behind him."  
  
Marnila? Are we still intended?  
  
Would I have returned if we were not? There are ways back to the tunnels from Coruscant, you know.  
  
"Ben, do you need to introduce me to someone?" Luke asked, getting ready to stand.  
  
"Marnila, this is my father. Father, this is Marnila. Do you and Mom know anything about planning weddings?"  
  
A moment of silence, and then the world was hugs and crying.  
  
...  
  
_Marnila__, what made you choose?_ a voice in the Force broke the night-silence of the room.  
  
She slightly opened one eye, smiling in an impish wonder. _If this family could find value in a flower my people consider a worthless weed, then they can certainly find value in me._  
  
_I know my grandson has._  
  
_We never would have met, if not for you._  
  
_I know. I am glad you found each other._  
  
_Quiet, Honored Departed One, for those living in the world of the Made are trying to sleep!_  
  
He was still laughing in her mind when she drifted into warm dreams of the future.  
  
...  
  
**_One generation plants the trees under which another takes its ease. Chinese proverb_**


End file.
